The surprise booking is an open-weight bout, though Ishii, a judo gold medalist in the 2008 Summer Olympics, likely will have a nearly 30-pound advantage.

DREAM.16 takes place Sept. 25 at Nippon Gaishi Hall in Nagoya, Japan. The event airs on HDNet in North America early Saturday morning (2 a.m. ET).

The booking comes after reports of a Minowa vs. James Thompson fight that never materialized.

Following his Olympic run and a decorated judo career, Ishii made his pro MMA debut this past December with World Victory Road’s Sengoku event series and suffered a unanimous-decision loss to fellow Olympian Hidehiko Yoshida. He rebounded in May with a first-round submission of Tafa Misipati at an event in New Zealand, but in June, he took part in an exhibition bout at an X-1 event in Hawaii. Ishii battered opponent Myles Tynanes but continued the assault after the first round ended, which resulted in his disqualification.

Minowa, who won DREAM’s open-weight “Super Hulk” grand prix in 2009 (despite being its lightest competitor), is riding a five-fight win streak with submissions wins over Bob Sapp, Hong Man Choi, Jimmy Ambriz and Imani Lee and a TKO victory over Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou. The former PRIDE star soon enters his 16th year of professional competition.

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